Widening the donuts would not make any difference. Can't believe that you don't know this already. You say you've followed the directions and shot balls. If that is true you wouldn't be doubting what i said. We never think about angles, just VISUAL PERCEPTIONS. Game changer right there.
Right. You never think about angles, only perceptions. But when you look at the cb-ob relationship and decide if it's an A, B, or C shot, your brain is making this call based on the angle you see. You aren't thinking about the exact angle, but more like which spectrum the particular shot falls into.
If it's straight in or a slight angle, you know to use a 15-outside. If it's a little more steep then you know to use a 15-inside. Objectively, both shots (15 inside and 15 outside) use the same exact 1/2 tip pivot from the same perception. If you were to shoot straight through the fixed cb from the perception, without offsetting your shaft half a tip inside or outside of that line, the ob would be struck in a manner that creates a certain objective shot angle. We know it's not 15° (14.5°) like fractional aiming. The 15 perception is a little more full than that. Anyway, a certain shot angle is created, but you don't shoot the shot from this perception. Instead, you place your bridge hand down parallel to this perception, exactly 1/2 a tip left or right, and then pivot to ccb and shoot from there
This pivot angle (created by an exact 1/2 tip offset and a specific bridge distance) provides a specific, objective thinning or thickening of the perception. The exact angles for thin and thick can easily be calculated and repeated. If the perception and pivots are done objectively these angles will always be the same as long as the distance between the cb and ob is the same. The only way they could be different is if the pivot is different (a result of varying bridge lengths and offsets that aren't exactly a 1/2 tip), which means it's no longer being done objectively. In other words, if the balls are 20" apart, it doesn't matter where they are on the table, an objective 15-inside or 15-outside should always produce the exact same amount of thinning or thickening, which is what I find when I shoot the shots as objectively as possible in accordance with Stan's instructions.
When I get the perception I am only looking at the cb and ob, and not directly at either one. If the cb and ob are 2ft apart I get a certain perception using the visuals, and it doesn't matter where they are on on the table because the perception is derived solely from the visuals between the two balls. And as long as the distance is the same I get the same results, which tells me I'm doing it objectively. I hope the book clears this up, because I believe this is the stumbling block for most people that try to learn this system in an objective manner.